


A Little Help From a Friend

by lanalucy



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Community: hc_bingo, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Relationship, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 18:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3082937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cally's had nightmares for months.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Help From a Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Written for hc_bingo - square one: fire.
> 
> Thanks to newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair for beta duties and title brainstorming.

She still had nightmares about it. All the awful things that had happened since the end of the worlds, and what woke her up in a cold sweat was the fire. There was never a warning. In her dreams, she was trapped under the body, and no one found her.

This was the first time it had hit her while she was awake. She’d managed to get off the flight deck and into a little-traveled corridor without alerting anyone. Sinking down to the floor, she wrapped her arms around her knees and let the tears come.

That’s how Brendan found her. Not that he was Brendan then - just some no-name crewmember.

The rhythmic slap of feet on the decking halted, and she kept her head down, hoping whoever it was would just keep going. Ignore her.

“You okay?”

She sniffled, dug her palms into her eyes, and looked up. “Fine.”

He knelt, and with him so much closer, and the film of tears wiped away, she could see he was skinny and had bad skin. But his eyes were kind. “Don’t look fine.”

Cally snorted. Duh.

He held out his hand. “Brendan.”

She wiped her hand off on her coverall. “Cally.”

“You’re part of the flight crew?” He pointed to the orange coverall she had tied around her waist.

She nodded.

“Must be hard work, keeping the planes going, especially now.”

“It gets harder every day. No endless supply of spare parts. Planes go down and we can’t get ‘em back up.”

He sat down, close enough to bump her shoulder. “But that’s not what’s bothering you.”

Cally shook her head. The images were still there, but muted, like they were behind a plexiglass wall. She wasn’t sure what made her tell him. “Nightmares. There was a fire in the first few days. We lost good people. I had my gear on, but one of my friends didn’t. When they found me, he was dead. But in my nightmares, I’m trapped under him and they never find me.”

He didn’t say anything. After a moment, he put his arm around her and picked up her left hand with his. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, then Cally sighed and said, “I’ve never had it hit during the day before. I couldn’t make it stop.”

“Is it gone now?”

She bit her lip and nodded at him. “Thanks.”

“I can’t always predict mine, either. It’s why I run.”

“That’s why you were down here?”

Brendan nodded. “I’m on night shifts this month. I should be sleeping right now.”

“You think you can sleep now?” she asked.

“You think you can go back to work?” he shot back.

When she said yes, Brendan stood and held a hand out to help her stand. They stood there awkwardly for a moment, then Cally impulsively threw her arms around him and hugged him. Brendan squeezed back.

“I’m down in laundry.”

She stepped back and tilted her head in question.

“Next time you can’t sleep, come find me. Maybe we can help each other.”

“Okay.”

Cally had no intention of following through, but next time the nightmares woke her up, she remembered how she’d felt safer for a little while, how the nightmares hadn’t come for over a week after that day in the corridor, and she made her way down to the maintenance crew deck. She was standing there wondering how to find Brendan, wondering if she should go into the head and ask someone, and he came out.

“Cally?”

She shrugged one shoulder.

“C’mon.” He held her hand and led her to his rack. “Maybe together, we can keep ‘em away.”

“You don’t have to work?”

“It’s my night off.”

He got in and held up the covers for her. She hesitated, wondering if he was thinking about frakking her, then decided she didn’t hate the idea, and crawled in. They both wiggled around until they were settled, and Brendan wrapped his arms around her. “This okay?”

She nodded.

“Night, Cally.”

“Night, Brendan.”


End file.
